Don’t Enforce Eviction Order Against Amartya Sen Till District Judge’s Decision On Stay Application: Calcutta High Court To Visva Bharati

Justice Bibhas Ranjan De allowed an application seeking interim stay on the decision until a lower court at Suri in Birbhum district, where the stay application is currently pending, hears the matter.

"Having heard the learned advocates, the learned District Judge, Birbhum is requested to hear the stay application on 10th May, 2023 at 2 P.M and till then the order of Joint Registrar Visva Bharati & Estate Officer should not be enforced or till the date of disposal of the stay application, whichever is later," said Justice De.

Sen had moved the High Court seeking interim relief, as the Joint Registrar and the Estate officer of the university had passed an order directing him to vacate 0.13 acres (5,500 sq ft) of land at his ancestral residence by May 6.

In his petition, Sen argued that in October 1943, the then general secretary of the Visva-Bharati University, Rathindranath Tagore, had given 1.38 acre of land for a lease of 99 years to his father Ashutosh Sen, who later built 'Pratichi'.

"But recently, some untoward incidents started to happen in the locality and the petitioner being a prominent citizen of the country and Nobel Laureate made certain comment concerning the deteriorating condition of the Visa Bharati University, as has been seen by him along in the past and that the aforesaid comments were not made for the purpose of causing any harm but realisation of fact which the petitioner perceived over the passage of time and were unintentional, without malice and was expressed under the constitutional guarantee of freedom of speech...," he sad in the plea.

Sen added that some of the comments may have "unintentionally hurt" the varsity and out of "vengeance, vendetta and instigation," the action was initiated against him.

The Nobel laureate had previously moved a court in Birbhum, Suri against the eviction notice, but the court set May 15 as the date of hearing, well after the university's deadline to vacate the land.

Case Title: Amartya Kumar Sen Vs Estate Officer and Joint Registrar, Visva Bharati and Ors C.O. 1434 of 2023

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